Main Street paving project goes to bid

A project to repave Highway 395 between First Street and Waterloo Lane in Gardnerville has gone out to bid.

Nevada Department of Transportation Spokeswoman Meg Ragonese said the state will open the bids on May 25 and announce the apparent low bid.

Surveyors have been visible for months up and down the highway, which serves as Gardnerville’s Main Street.

Bid opening is just the start of the process reviewing the low bid, which will then go to the Nevada State Transportation Board at either the July or August meeting.

Should the board approve the contract, Ragonese said the state and contractor will finalize the construction schedule including a start date.

“It is anticipated that construction will launch in late summer or fall,” Ragonese said. “The construction start date could, though, be impacted by weather or other unforeseen bid review or construction-related factors.”

A second project to pave Highway 395 from Ray May Way south to the state line that was anticipated to start this summer may end up beginning next year.

This year’s flooding in the Pine Nuts, exacerbated by the 2021 Tamarack Fire, has resulted in alteration of natural vegetation, drainage flows and patterns along the highway.

“As the full extent of these natural drainage changes were made apparent following this recent winter’s heavy precipitation, NDOT incorporated the altered natural drainage flows into updated engineering design for improved roadway drainage,” Ragonese said.

The state has been making emergency repairs to roadside shoulders on this section of Highway 395 that were eroded by heavy winter precipitation.

“Starting repaving of the roadway next year allows these important roadside repairs to be completed prior to repaving,” she said.

On Monday commissioners discussed Muller Lane Parkway, which is also running late after the construction manager at risk bid came in at $16.8 million.

Between the two-lane segment the county has to build across Park Ranch land and a section just north of Toler at Ashland Park, Douglas County Transportation Manager Jon Erb confirmed that the entire project will approach $25 million.

Because the Regional Transportation Commission rejected the bid the project will go out to bid again in the coming months.